Public Servant Lifestyle

Former Spice Girl pop princess Emma Bunton drops her surname and returns with a 'solo' album packed with collaborations - and a whole clutch of new sounds.

I'll Be There and Free Me, by Emma.

Emma Bunton. Bright, sunny, streetwise, sharp, down-to-earth and sexy. Contradictory, yes, but then there are many sides to Emma.

A member of Britain’s biggest-selling pop group of recent times, The Spice Girls, yet still regularly spotted in North London with her mum.

She’s sold over 40 million albums, yet she’s just starting out as a recording artist in her own right. Unspoilt by the whole star thing, she likes nothing better than a quiet Sunday afternoon in front of the telly, yet she’s equally at home in front of 70,000 Spice fans at Wembley Stadium.

Following her astounding success in 2003 with two top ten hits, Emma returns in early 2004 with her brand new single I'll Be There. Following in February is her album Free Me, recorded throughout last year in London, Sheffield and Spain.

Sixties

"With this album," Emma says, "the sound is very different to anything that's out there at the moment. It has a real 60's influence and feel like I've captured my own sound. I've worked really hard and I hope people enjoy it.

Free Me is a diverse, energetic, sophisticated soundscape including first top 5 single of the same name, the twinkling, orchestral burst of I'll Be There, the woozy, gorgeous atmospherics of Something So Beautiful, led all the way by Emma's distinctive, mint-fresh vocal. There's the quirky, salsa feel to Crickets Sing For Annamaria, the Brazilian traditional classic and feisty yet cheeky vocals to Who The Hell Are You?.

The album of course features last irresistible single Maybe, an upbeat, classy, pop-swinger and her second single to grace the top 10 this year as a solo performer. "We were going for this... retro vibe - that 60s, 70s sexy lounge feel ," Emma explained. The video won over fans young and old with its fabulous dance routine.

A masive collaborative project; Emma's new long-player has found her working with Cathy Dennis, Yak Bondie, Ray Hedges, Mike Peden, Henry from Zero 7 and Simon Ellis.

Lyrics

"This time I've been totally myself," she says, "I've written lyrics, melodies, and have enjoyed the process. I wanted to find myself in my music and with this album I've totally done that. Every track, I wanted all the music to be live. Lyrically, it's about the changes I've been through - travelling, breaking up, things everyone can relate to.

As well as working on the new album, in 2003 Emma also took part in several extra-curricular activities. She featured in two episodes of the BBC comedy Absolutely Fabulous (playing herself - as a friend of Saffy's and one of Edina's clients); she presented the 'Christmas in Popworld' show at Wembley in front of 10,000 people and appeared in the M&S Christmas advert as Cinderella!

It's all quite a way on from Emmas first steps outside her former Spiceworld. A guest vocal on the Tin Tin Out cover of Edie Brickel’s tune What I Am shot to number two in the charts and was followed by an accomplished performance at the Jazz Café in London’s Camden Town. The seeds were sown and that was when Emma began working on fragments of lyrics and melodies in any spare time.

She recalls, “it was a bit like leaving home as a kid, you’re going to have to branch out on your own at some point”. Influences were diverse, a heady mix of classic Motown like Stevie Wonder and contemporary soul divas like Whitney Houston, alongside the best of British like Travis and Texas.

Collaborators

Unsurprisingly this is reflected in the new material, where influences as divergent as country and rock rub shoulders with pure pop.

Collaborators were a key element to the making of the album, and Emma chose them carefully. She admits she was “lucky to work with great people”, but stresses that she would only work with those who allowed her “as much input into production as possible”. Emma had a clear idea of where she was headed with the project from the beginning.

She called on some of the hottest talents around, including Richard “Biff” Stannard of Spice fame, Rhett Lawrence, who has written for Mariah Carey and Melanie C, Andrew Frampton, Sturken and Rogers and legendary rocker Bryan Adams. Rodney and Fred Jerkins, the genius R&B team famed for their work with Whitney and Toni Braxton, were also recruited, along with master mixer Mark ‘Spike’ Stent, whose credits range from Madonna to Massive Attack.

The album was recorded in New York, Miami, London and Los Angeles and Emma chose the melodic soft guitar anthem What Took You So Long? as the first single.

What Took You So Long?

After the music comes the promo and Emma, who has a well-developed sense of fashion and style, was all ready with artwork and video concepts. Accordingly she was soon in front of Terry Richardson’s lens, and dodging paparazzi in the Californian desert on her first solo video shoot directed by Greg Masuak.

The full track listing for the album looks like this:

Free Me
Maybe
I'll Be There
Tomorrow
Breathing
Crickets Sing For Anamaria
No Sign Of Life
Who The Hell Are You
Lay Your Love On Me
Amazing feat Luis Fonsi
You Are
Something So Beautiful

So another chapter of Emma Bunton’s eventful life opens, and we can be sure that she will take it with the same good-natured fun approach as she has all her other successes. Hit singles and albums will doubtless come and go, and at the end of it Emma will be pretty much the same girl she was in the first place. In view of all she’s been through, this above all else is what makes her refreshingly rare.

The single I'll Be There is out now, as is the album Free Me.

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